1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a beverage cup with open top, particularly human consumption of beverages in a space station or a weightless or a microgravity environment found in spacecraft and, more particularly, to a beverage cup with an open top from which astronauts or spacecraft crewmembers or spacecraft visitors can consume beverages without the use of a straw.
2. Description of the Related Art
Standard art presented in a beverage cup with open top and rim simply will not work in the weightless or microgravity environment found on a space station or on a spacecraft. The beverage, once placed in the cup, will cling to the bottom due to capillary forces regardless of the cup orientation and thus prevent the beverage from being sipped or drunk by placing your lips in contact with the open rim. Secondly, small movements of the cup will cause the beverage to spill or float free from the cup's open top due to capillary forces being weaker than the inertial forces resulting from cup motion. These two facts make current art in beverage cups impractical in a weightless environment.
Until now, the method for spacecraft crewmembers to drink liquids in weightless or microgravity environments is to suck the liquid from a flexible drink bag or pouch through a straw affixed to the pouch or a straw-like passage built into the pouch. One of the inventors of this new beverage cup, when as a crewmember on the International Space Station, fabricated, tested, and brought the invention herein to a practical form while within the United States controlled Node 2 module. This art, as brought to practice, then allowed space station crewmembers to sip, drink, and toast beverages, and to move the cup about the cabin without undue spillage for the first time in the history of human space flight. Video downlink showing this art was made public via NASA television and posted on a public NASA websites on Nov. 24, 2008.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a beverage cup with open top and rim where the beverage can be sipped and drunk in a manner consistent with how beverage cups are used on Earth. The invention described herein provides an open topped beverage cup that allows astronauts, crewmembers, and visitors such as tourists, to sip, to drink, to toast, to move the cup about without undue spillage, in a manner consistent with life on Earth and thus provides an advancement over prior art for the habitability of humans living in a space station or in the weightless environment of a spacecraft. This is particularly important now with planned long duration space missions where crewmembers will be away from Earth for many months at a time where seemingly small civilized pleasures take on a new level of significance.